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Chabot: 'Real Flames' showed up in comeback win

by
Evan Sporer
/ NHL.com

For additional insight into the Western Conference Second Round series between the Anaheim Ducks and Calgary Flames, NHL.com has enlisted the help of Frederic Chabot to break down the action. Chabot will be checking in throughout the series.

The Calgary Flames mantra has been the same all season: They never quit.

The Flames faced a 2-0 deficit in their Second Round Western Conference series on Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks. They faced a 3-2 deficit with under a minute to play in the third period of Game 3.

But just as they've done time and again, Frederic Chabot said, Calgary stayed with it.

"Anaheim's top line had another good start and the Ducks found a way to be ahead 3-2 halfway through the second period," Chabot said. "But then the real Flames showed up, they never quit, they kept trying and hitting and forced Anaheim to take some penalties.

"They gained momentum, and finally tied the game and won. It was the real Flames we saw [Tuesday]; they never quit."

There were moments when it seemed like it wasn't going to be Calgary's night. With 6:22 remaining in regulation, rookie forward Sam Bennett appeared to tie the game on a wraparound, but a video replay was inconclusive in determining if the puck crossed the line.

"I think [Flames coach Bob] Hartley said it after the game that they've been a very resilient group," Chabot said. "They went through a lot of things and they just kept going. They got over that hump and they just kept trying.

"It was a really nice goal scored by Johnny Gaudreau, they needed someone to step up and score that (tying) goal for them and Johnny Hockey did it."

Gaudreau's tying goal came with 20 seconds remaining in the third period. On that goal, and on forward Mikael Backlund's overtime-winner, Calgary crowded the crease around Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen, something Chabot said the Flames needed to do in prior games.

"It's not a secret," Chabot said. "In pro hockey you need traffic; you need to make those goalies' lives difficult.

"NHL goalies are really good. If you don't screen, and if you don't create chaos around them, they're going to see the puck and most of the time they're going to stop it. The Flames did a better job of creating traffic Tuesday."

For the first time all postseason, according to Chabot, the Ducks couldn't put together a 60-minute effort.

"They were good for 30 (minutes), but the second half of that game I think they only had seven shots, and fewer hits, and took a few penalties," Chabot said. "They need to rebound from that; they need to find a way to be good for 60 minutes in Calgary."

The Flames handed the Ducks their first loss in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and Chabot said it was about Calgary playing its own game.

"It's not really finding a way to beat the Ducks," Chabot said. "On Tuesday the Flames brought up their intensity and their intelligence level and their discipline level higher. It showed; they played pretty good for 60 minutes.

"Their intensity forced Anaheim to take some penalties, and that was Calgary's game during the regular season. They never quit, they worked hard, they were physical; they got in your face."

Chabot said he expects Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau to use this as a teaching moment and for Anaheim to be better come Game 4 of the best-of-7 on Friday (9:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVA Sports).

"He's an experienced coach, and I'm sure all the coaches always say that: It doesn't matter how close you are to the prize, you haven't won anything yet until you hold the Cup," Chabot said. "He's got a very experienced group in his hands, and I'm sure he has a message to give them, but the leaders on the team have to do the same."